Friday, June 21, 2013

Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me

by Ian Morgan Cron

Thomas Nelson Publishers

When Ian is finally told that his father worked for the CIA, it explains a lot. But not everything. Lost without the compass that is a father's love, Ian struggles to accept and understand a father that became everything he pretended to be while he worked for the CIA. Drowned out by the loud voice of his father's alcoholism and lack of interest in his son's life, Ian grows up to be a man of many questions and no easy answers.

Years later when he faces his many personal demons, he comes to a realization that the truth of who he has become is found in his past. A father that drank and ignored him. A nanny that had nothing but the family's best interest in mind. The catholic church that introduced him to a God that held him up when standing was impossible. A mother who's long-suffering patience with all of them may have been the only thing that redeemed his childhood in the end. Will Ian's questions finally be answered? Or is he doomed to a life of broken fragments with no hope of redemption?

Having read this author before, I was already familiar with the voice of Cron's writing. But reading this memoir was an entirely different journey altogether. It showed the heart of a young boy that desperately wants to find his way in this life, a young man that wants to make all the right choices, and then the adult that has to look to the past to put it all together. Sometimes looking at the past makes things harder. But Cron pushes past the pain to come out a better man for it. A recommended read for anyone that needs encouragement to resolve the past for a better future.

This book was provided for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for an honest review.